The financial services industry’s rush to embrace generative artificial intelligence, large language models and similar innovation will have a profound impact on careers in payments. It’s a rapid pace of change that’s not lost on Aimee Schumaker.
“I keep hearing that eventually AI will be so ubiquitous that every company will be an ‘AI company,’ similar to how most every company is a software company today,” said Schumaker, head of partnerships for B2B for payments company Flywire.
Schumaker is among the Most Influential Women in Payments: Next executives who shared their thoughts on gen AI. Like many people in finance, they will need to adjust to the rapidly evolving technology, which can produce original content and will likely change even more in the years ahead.
“If AI can be as ubiquitous as software, we all need to start thinking about how to incorporate AI into our roles now,” said Schumaker, who has led international product launches in China and Latin America during her career. “AI frees up time to think about ways to innovate and grow our business,” she said.
Setting a meeting
For now, Schumaker focuses on simple use cases and applications that can eliminate or accelerate monotonous work. ChatGPT provides universal access to a generative AI tool where employees can learn, experiment and wrap their heads around what AI can do, she said.
Flywire’s Aimee Schumaker says AI will be as ubiquitous as software.
Flywire
“The more I play around with it, the more applications become obvious and the more I consider AI as a tool for day-to-day problem-solving,” Schumaker said, adding there are obvious time-saving applications such as constructing the framework of an email or social media messages.
But there are more advanced uses.
Schumaker attends a lot of conferences and likes to set up meetings ahead of time. Since most conference applications list hundreds or thousands of attendee names and titles to scroll through, it can take a long time to look through them. A colleague recently introduced Schumaker to a ChatGPT feature that allows Schumaker to make a smartphone recording of her slowly scrolling through an attendee list.
She then pastes the screen recording into ChatGPT and asks it to translate it into an Excel table with the names, titles and companies in different columns. That allows her to easily find attendees for meetings. “This takes me all of five minutes and saves me more than five hours,” Schumaker said. “The increased efficiency is great, but even better is that it gets my mind working on what else to use the functionality for.”
Spanning the generations
Like most new technology, gen AI is being introduced to workers who have different levels of knowledge with technology or who adopt new tools at a different pace.
“It’s crucial to consider the multigenerational approach to implementing these AI-driven solutions,” said Brooke Turner, director of sales for North America for the Troy Group, a firm that works with financial institutions on payments security.
Troy’s clients range from tech-savvy younger generations to more experienced professionals who may be less comfortable with new digital tools. “Part of my preparation involves ensuring that AI integration is user-friendly and accessible to all clients,” Turner said. “This means providing comprehensive education and support, so everyone understands and trusts these new technologies.”
As new forms of AI become mainstream, the nature of Turner’s job will also likely change from focusing on manual fraud detection to managing more sophisticated AI-driven systems. “This transition will require continuous learning and adaptation, as the AI landscape is dynamic and ever-changing,” Turner said.
Financial institutions are also considering how to deploy gen AI. Most early uses are to help staff streamline work and guide customer service. Later uses will accelerate to product development, security, risk management, documentation and credit assessments.
Troy Group
“The impacts could be transformational to the customer experience and how we run and manage the business,” said Courtney Mitchell, head of consumer deposit and payment products at TD Bank. “This, in turn, could directly shape what the future state of the business looks like and how my role delivers for our colleagues and customers.”
That will require training staff and communicating with consumers and partners about new forms of AI.
“It will be critical to have expertise and continuity of leaders who know what is core to running the business even as we navigate through the ever-changing generative AI landscape,” Mitchell said.
Safeguarding data and best practices
As AI develops, there will also be risks, given the potential for data to be used improperly or for bad actors to use gen AI to commit crimes.
“Generative AI has already had a meaningful impact on my role as a risk manager,” said Esther Shin, vice president of enterprise risk management for The Clearing House.
As a risk professional, it is ingrained in Shin to focus on the “what if” and turn worst-case scenarios into proactive solutions.
Preparing for the broad adoption of generative AI and its integration into the workplace introduces new emerging risks which must be monitored closely, she said, noting threats of increased data breaches, cyberattacks, poor decision-making, data concerns, ethical challenges and an infringement on customer relations are just examples of risks that can potentially impact payment systems on a day-to-day basis.
“While the integration of generative AI is changing the way we evaluate the landscape, it also steers the very direction of my long-term career path,” Shin said.
The Clearing House
With the rapid advancement of AI, the knowledge of current risks may be surpassed quickly. “Decision-making related to AI use cases without proper understanding of design, implementation or ongoing model monitoring of AI may result in unintended consequences or undesirable performance,” Shin said, adding there are other concerns about gen AI data including integrity, bias, confidentiality, ownership and leakage. Privacy risks are also possible as data is incorporated into the AI.
“If we don’t change our processes to keep up with these fast-paced changes, it could create the potential for major business disruptions,” Shin said.
Upholding ethics in AI usage is fundamental to maintaining user trust and promoting responsible technology use, said Lisset May Cervantes, senior vice president of sales and customer operations for Kueski, a fintech company that offers buy now/pay later lending and other products.
Kueski
Cervantes leads the company’s AI ethics strategy. That includes ensuring the firm’s practices follow regulations and remain transparent. Cervantes and her team are preparing for the broader implications of generative AI by investing in training. “Implementing strict guidelines allows for the protection of user data and privacy, reinforcing Kueski’s commitment to ethical standards,” Cervantes said.
In the end, gen AI could have a positive impact on the industry, Shin said, adding her career path could change since the emergence of new technology provides the chance to build a new skill set. “That will make me more adaptable to roles and opportunities in the future,” she said.
Generative AI will also allow for new opportunities to improve efficiency, automation and enhanced decision-making. “AI can provide more data driven insights for the payments industry which will enhance customer interactions and improve automation,” Shin said. “AI can not only provide enhanced analysis practices for the payments industry, but it can also enhance the risk manager role by assisting with identifying risks or anomalies and aiding in the forecasting of those risks.”
